The Olympics Are Coming to the U.S. The Woman in Charge Shares What to Expect.

Sarah Hirshland is the CEO of the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee. (Barron’s)

Sarah Hirshland oversees one of the most elite athletic teams on the planet: Team USA. But she is more modest about her own abilities.

“I grew up a very mediocre athlete,” she told Barron’s editor at large Andy Serwer in an interview for the At Barron’s video series. “But I loved sports.”

Sports developed into her professional passion. She served as the chief commercial officer of the U.S. Golf Association before becoming CEO of the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee, the nonprofit corporation that backs Team USA, in 2018. In that role, her primary responsibility is to protect “fair competition and fair opportunities to compete,” she said.

In recent years, that has become a controversial task. A hodgepodge of international sports federations, which have written inconsistent and hard to apply rules around transgender athlete participation, has created some intractable concerns around fairness in women’s sports, she said.

That might be changing. Both global and domestic sports environments are starting to make policy moves “that are very clearly going to ensure that women have a fair opportunity to compete,” Hirshland said, though she didn’t specify what those policies might be. She said she believes President Donald Trump’s executive order this year to “affirmatively protect all-female athletic opportunities” was the catalyst for that.

Hirshland said the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee has spent “quite a bit of time” recently with the Trump administration, a key partner in the planning of the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

“It speaks to the hospitality nature of the president,” Hirshland said of Trump’s involvement in the coming games. “He understands what being a great host means and they are committed to helping us do that.”

Lots of security logistics need to be sorted out in the next few years, with federal, local, and municipal governments’ assistance. Up to 150 heads of state are expected to attend the games.

Financially, however, the U.S. Olympics & Paralympic Committee is on its own. Most countries have sports ministries that financially support their national teams—but the U.S. committee is entirely privately-funded. Its roughly $1.5 billion revenue, spread over the four-year Olympic cycle, comes primarily from sponsorships through commercial licensing agreements and donations, according to Hirshland.

In 2028, “a huge piece” of the committee’s revenue will come from ticketing and hospitality at the Los Angeles games, she said.

Hirshland expects to sell about 10 million tickets. Most of those, she said, will be accessibly priced, although she also expects they will also sell some of the most expensive sporting tickets in U.S. history.

Fans can expect to see several new events at the games, including squash, cricket, lacrosse, and flag football. Tackle football fans, however, might be disappointed to learn there is “no sign of it ever becoming an Olympic sport,” according to Hirshland.

There are still many important details the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee must sort out, including what athletes make the cut for Team USA. The carriers of the iconic Olympic torch will then be selected for the opening ceremony.

Luckily, the planning committee has an “abundance of riches” in terms of athletes to choose from, Hirshland said. The passing of the torch symbolizes global peace and friendship. One emblematic visual of that Olympic message occurred during the 1996 games in Atlanta, Ga., when then-24-year-old Team USA swimmer Janet Evans handed the torch to boxing legend Muhammad Ali.

“Nobody will ever forget that moment,” Hirshland said. “Let’s hope we have the ability to create more of those kinds of memories.”

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